New Jersey has withdrawn from a lawsuit seeking to force five electric utilities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 20 states by 3 percent a year for the next decade.
A spokesman for state Attorney General Paula Dow (D) said that the "lawsuit that was originally filed in 2004 has been effectively mooted by the 2007 Supreme Court decision declaring that the regulation of greenhouse emissions is a federal issue."
"Considering the Supreme Court's ruling and the Obama administration's subsequent position that the EPA must determine an appropriate plan of action," Dow spokesman Paul Loriquet added, "it does not make sense to incur further taxpayer expense on an unnecessary lawsuit."
The lawsuit was originally brought by eight states, New York City and three nonprofit land trusts, but Wisconsin also withdrew from the suit in February. The plaintiffs contend that greenhouse gases cause global warming and that those gases are emitted from coal, gasoline and other fossil-fuel production.
A judge dismissed the suit, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned the ruling in September 2009. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case last fall.
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) of New Jersey criticized the decision to withdraw.
"Why should New Jersey be less concerned about the health and well-being of its families than Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, California and Iowa?" Lautenberg asked in a statement. "The choice here was between the health of New Jersey families and profits for out-of-state polluters. When companies in other states are dumping pollution into the air that affects our families, New Jersey must stand up and fight -- not back down" (Newark Star-Ledger, March 12). -- AP
